746 
June another big crop next year. If we can learn 
to grow it and have a crop every year, I certainly 
think it would la* great stuff for pasture, at least 
I am going to stick to it. But as for growing it 
for hay my experience is that Alfalfa will grow 
anywhere Sweet clover will, and I would prefer it 
for hay. 
I plowed 25 acres of hill land in the Fall of 1913, 
land that I was sure Alfalfa would not grow on; 
in the Spring of 1911 sowed Sweet clover seed. It 
irrew fairly well and looked pretty good last Fall, 
but this Spring there is nothing there. 
'flie only place I could recommend Sweet clover 
for liay would be on rich land that is wet, hut 
Sweet clover will not grow where it is too wet, 
There is no question that the stock will eat it. after 
they once get started. If we can learn to grow it 
si, as to get a crop every year it certainly would he 
very valuable for pasture, hut one must have good 
rich land to grow it on. 
To sum up I will say Sweet clover's stronghold 
is for pasture. Cows certainly will give the milk 
mi it. hut as for growing for hay, Alfalfa of course 
is ]ireferable. Anybody sowing it I would advise 
by all means to fit land in Fall, roll down hard, 
then sow seed on top very late. Take corn stubble, 
harrow up well, then sow seed just, before freezing 
up. I have a couple of neighbors who have had a 
similar experience, and we have decided Sweet clov¬ 
er pays only for pasture. f. k. allen. 
Tompkins Co., N. Y. 
Experience With Auto Trucks. 
F oil three years I have been using auto trucks, 
and have found them a practical vehicle. Their 
economy is greatest on long hauls, where time 
is limited and during seasons when the strain is the 
hardest. One or two lessons we have learned in the 
most expensive way: that is experience that two or 
three-ton trucks are more suitable for farmer's use 
than the heavy five-ton trucks: that a good service 
station behind the truck is the first essential. Any 
garage can repair an auto, but they cannot handle 
trucks satisfactorily. On hauls of 10 miles I believe 
the cost of carting by teams and trucks is about 
even, hut beyond that distance the truck is most 
economical. Whenever a truck can he spared from 
its regular service there seems to he a demand for 
it for hiring out for picnics, lodges, and general 
carting purposes. 
One of my progressive neighbors who kept eight 
horses several years ago bought a couple of 1%-ton 
trucks and a farm tractor. He now only needs one 
small team of horses and claims that he gets his 
work done more satisfactorily and at no greater ex¬ 
pense. Remember the trucks when not needed do 
not eat nor kick the barn down, itokace Roberts. 
New Jersey. 
Growing the Perfect Farm Horse. 
L AST Fall we visited a farmer who only runs an 
SO-acre farm, but he is very choice about the 
kind of stock that eats the feed lie produces, 
and receives the extra care he devotes. He will 
have nothing but the very best horses, cattle, hogs or 
poultry, and the consequences are that he gets pretty 
fair returns for his trouble. There was another 
fact that I noticed and commented on and got liis 
opinion and saw him demonstrate it in every de¬ 
partment of his farm livestock work. He was on 
good terms with every creature, and they considered 
him as a friend at all times. He could attend to 
his sows at farrowing time without their being Cas¬ 
trated or excited, he could go among his cattle and 
do as he saw tit with them, he could catch every 
horse out in the pasture, and never had to run them 
round and wear himself out in the chase. 
He drew our attention to one particular mare for 
which he had a standing offer of $300 whenever he 
wanted to part with her. Her colts were all smooth 
and almost perfect farm horses, and she herself was 
so near perfection from a practical standpoint, that 
there was no surprise at the $300 price. Then the 
fact that her owner thought more of her than he did 
of a $300 check, intimated that the value was not 
all in the looks. 
The horse that can carry weight, say around 1,400 
pounds, has clean limbs, sound eyes, fine-cut head 
and with wind that is flawless, and is steady on the 
job, is so satisfactory that it is like parting from a 
friend to sell them off the farm. One gets to like 
such an animal with more than the mere dollar and 
cent spirit. A horse of that character can be hitched 
on a heavy load of wheat, or a load of seven big 
300-pound hogs, and will walk off as easily as if it 
was only a light chore. There is a vast difference 
in the horses of a community; one often wonders 
how it comes that there are so many small horses 
that are particularly adapted to no real work of a 
<T l-l E RURAL NEW-YORKER 
farm community. Every farm may need a light 
team, less now perhaps than before the automobile 
came into fashion, but no farm needs the little 
chunk that weighs about 1.050, is not gaited for good 
traveling on the roads, and is not strong enough 
to pull a plow or one-third or a fourth of a heavy 
gang in hard ground without a strain. We discover 
that the leg trouble is most often found in that 
weight: they have l>een called upon and the strength 
was not there. Better have only two horses instead 
of three, or only three instead of four, and have 
them big lusty drafters, ready to dig the plow down 
into hard stubble in August, or pull a load out of a 
mudhole in April. The chunk or general-purpose 
horse is fast going out of fashion in the Central 
West, where the quarter-section farm is found, and 
it should pass out of the other sections, as well. 
The time has now come to select the breeding sire 
for next year, and the man who gets* the draft colt, 
a good heavy-honed animal, has already got his 
breeding fee back if you compare the value of such 
a colt with the spindling general-purpose colt.from 
the half scrub stallion. It takes but little more 
feed to sustain the big colt than it does for the 
smaller one, and you have so much more value 
wrapped up in one care. T stood at a public auction 
the other day and saw two animals put up for sale. 
The one was a small horse, weighing 1,200 or per¬ 
haps only 1.150, hut almost perfect in form. It 
brought $150. Then they brought out a fine horse, 
no more nearly perfect in form, hut weighing 1.400 
pounds, and it ran to $200 in less than half the time 
it took to sell the small one. There you see that 
farmer had had no more trouble and expense to 
raise the big one than he had to produce the smaller 
animal, they were both perfect of their weight, hut 
one brought $50 more. Both of these were just 
colts, and neither a tried-out horse, and stood an 
equal show as there was a large crowd and all kinds 
First-class Farm Horse. Fig. 269. 
of buyers present, two or three horse buyers for for¬ 
eign markets being in the crowd to gather up any¬ 
thing that they wanted, but they saw $50 more in 
the big colt. We must admit that 33 per cent, is a 
big difference on a colt, and if a man wants ttu^ 
horse for his own use. the big one will pull 33 
per. cent, more during a period of years. 
Right now our roads are nearly one foot deep in 
mud, and the farmers are delivering hogs by the 
wholesale. I stood beside a loading chute the other 
day and helped a farmer load out 22 wagons of 
porkers, six big 300-pounds in each wagon, and as 
the roads were next to impassable, we noticed that 
every farmer bad his largest team, and then some 
of them needed two teams on a wagon. It is in 
such times that the value of the big. strong horse 
shows up plain, but it is there every day that the 
team goes to the field all the year round. With a 
manure spreader, the big team pulls the load, but 
with a smaller outfit, one must put on three horses. 
Give me the big strong 1.400 and up drafter, then 
a lighter road team, and you can keep your general 
purpose horses now and forever. j. D. shroyer. 
Nebraska. 
Comparing “ Rocks” and “ Reds.” 
Some months ago you published two articles on egg 
records and food eaten by Leghorns and Wyandottes. 
leading pens at Storrs. There was much value in the 
facts given. Will you publish some figures for R. I. 
Reds and for Rooks? J. S. B. 
Black Hall, Conn. 
S INCE we printed the figures showing the records 
of the leading pens of Wyandottes and Leg¬ 
horns in the last egg-laying contest, there have 
been requests for other information along this line. 
J. S. B. desires the comparative record made by the 
Barred Rocks and the Rhode Island Reds. Both 
these breeds rank with the Wyandottes as general 
purpose poultry, and there has been a general belief, 
encouraged by the figures this year, that these breeds 
are on the whole more profitable than the Leghorns, 
because they gave a large number of Winter eggs 
May 20, 1015. 
and then supplied a Very good carcass. We have 
therefore obtained the following figures, showing 
what the leading pen of Barred Rocks accomplished 
and also the record of the leading pen of Rhode 
Island Reds. 
The Barred Rocks were entered by .Tules F. Fran- 
cais, of Long Island, while the leaders in the Red 
column are owned by A. B. Brundage of Connecticut. 
The prices for eggs were as we understand much the 
same as those given on page 92 for the Wyandottes 
and the Leghorns. Of course, the higher prices 
were paid during the late Fall and Winter. This 
will account for the fact that, the income from the 
Barred Rocks with 1,693 eggs to their credit was 
greater than that from the Rhode Island Reds which 
laid 1.885 eggs. 
Barred Rooks R I. Reds. 
Eggs Laid Eggs Laid 
Nov. 
58 
Nov. 
9 
. . 140 
Dec. 
. 71 
J an. 
. . S3 
Jan. 
pq 
Feb . 
.. 101 
Feb. 
"14Q 
• ••••»••••• no 
Mar. 
.. 192 
Mar. 
210 
Apr. 
. . 185 
A pr. 
. 231 
May . 
. . 193 
May 
218 
June . 
. . 161 
June 
. 211 
July . 
. . 164 
July 
. 18S 
Aug. 
.. 170 
Aug. 
Sept. 
. . 133 
Sept. 
. 200 
()ct. 
. . 116 
()ct. 
. 122 
Total. 
..1606 
Total 
.1885 
Value . 
.$47.84 
Value 
.$40.45 
As you see this advantage of higher prices for 
Winter eggs gave (he Barred Rocks an increased 
income of nearly $7. while they really produced 
nearly 200 eggs less. The great work of the Rhode 
Island Reds, as we see. was done from March to 
October, while the Barred Rocks were ahead during 
the early months of the contest. When it comes to 
the cost of feed, the following figures show how 
closely the two breeds ran. 
Barred Rocks 
Mash .431 
(train .505 
Grit. Shell and 
Charcoal .... 4S.S 
Cost .$19.21 
R I. Reds 
Mash .521 
Grain .472 
Grit, Shell and 
Charcoal .... 4S.9 
Cost .$20.26 
The Reds consumed 90 pounds more of the dry 
mash and 37 pounds less of the grain, thus the food 
of the Reds cost $1.05 move than that for the Barred 
Rocks. The average cost of feeding one of the 
Barred Rocks was $1.92 against $2.03 for the Rhode 
Island Reds. 
Many of our folks will want to compare these 
figures with those given for the Wyandottes and 
Leghorns. So we have grouped the records for the 
four leading pens of 10 birds each for each breed. 
Total number of eggs. 
Average per hen. 
Total income for eggs. 
Income per heii. 
Ci ist of food. 
Food cost per hen. 
Net income per hen. . . 
Some of the "Reds” 
Wyan- Leg- Barred 
•lottos horns Reds Rocks 
.. 2085 2088 1885 1696 
.. 208V, 208.8 188.5 169.6 
. . $57.44 $54.63 $40.45 $47.84 
. . $5.74 $5.46 84.04 $4.78 
. . $20.64 $16.22 $20.26 $19.21 
. . $2.06 $1.62 $2.02 $1.92 
. . $3.68 $3.84 $2.02 $2.66 
in oilier pens gave a larger 
income per hen as. since they laid fewer eggs these 
were produced during the months when prices were 
highest. Figured on the basis of profit entirely 
some of the pens with a comparatively low* score 
would win. 
Who Got the Money? 
The Times Index of Cohoeton, N. Y., prints some 
facts about a shipment of potatoes to New York. W. 
H. Clark & Co., as the result of an article on the low- 
price of potatoes, received an order from a New York 
consumer for potatoes. 
We sold the party six bushels (they had to be fancy 
stock) at 40 cents track, of potatoes we paid the farmer 
30 cents for. The sacks cost four cents per bushel giv¬ 
ing us six cents per bushel, or thirty-six cents for sack¬ 
ing and hauling to depot and our profit on the trans¬ 
action. 
The consumer in New Y"ork who bought the potatoes 
sent this statement of his experience: 
The two bags of potatoes have arrived with a charge 
of $1.68 following, bringing the cost up to $2.04 per 
bag and I can buy equally as good here of local dealers 
at $1.80 for ISO* pounds. No fault of yours but. of 
course, I cau not buy more under such conditions. The 
trouble is the railroad rate .189 per 100 is too high 
as compared with the carload rate and local cartage, 
50 eents per bag. is also too high. If I could buy fresh 
from the country at same price I would patronize the 
country but judging from this experience it can not be 
done. 
We are asked if this “cartage” charge is too high. 
Cartage charges in New York vary with the distance; 
50 cents would not be an unusual charge for hauling a 
bag of potatoes. The truckmen make more proportion¬ 
ately on some jobs than others, depending on whether 
they can work several deliveries to advantage. In 
small places, where the railroad station is one-quarter 
to one-half mile from the village we notice that the 
local express men charge 50 cents for hauling no¬ 
thing as large as a bag of potatoes. 
What’s the matter with this for a “Keep off the 
grass” sign—“Pedal propulsion positively prohibited 1 
